{"id":125372,"url":"https://alion.io/job/interplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel","title":"Head of Process Engineering, Vandrel","company":{"id":705967,"name":"Interplay","domain":"interplay.vc","url":"https://alion.io/company/interplay-2","size_band":"11-50","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":true,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":5,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":179000,"max_usd":348000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":628},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-29T14:56:59Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-29","last_verified_at":"2026-10-21T06:10:48Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":113,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":113},"description":"WHO ARE WE\nVandrel is rebuilding America's high-performance magnet wire supply chain. We design and manufacture PEEK-insulated copper conductor in modular micro-factories, producing the wire that goes into the motors, transformers, and power systems that matter most: defense and aerospace platforms, EV traction, and grid and stationary storage.\nToday, insulated magnet wire is produced by a short list of European and Asian suppliers. That is a problem for every US program that needs higher voltage, higher temperature, or higher power density. Our team is small, senior, and hands-on, and we are closing that gap.\nWHAT YOU'LL BE DOING\nDesign and Run the Process: Lead development and operation of Vandrel’s pilot extrusion line for PEEK-insulated copper magnet wire across target conductor gauges, from resin handling through finished, wound-ready wire.\n\nOwn the Copper-to-PEEK Interface: Drive surface preparation, oxidation control, adhesion strategy, and bond verification. A very short list of competitors has solved this. We intend to solve it better and patent the result.\n\nSpecify and Commission Equipment: Select, source, and bring up extruders, crossheads, dies, cooling, spooling, and inline metrology. Work directly with US, European, and Asian vendors to land equipment configured for PEEK processing.\n\nDefine the Quality Envelope: Set the standards for dielectric strength, pinhole rate, elongation, partial discharge behavior, thermal cycling, and fluid compatibility, and the metrology to prove them.\n\nDrive Yield, Throughput, and IP: Take the process from pilot through first commercial runs. Build and document Vandrel’s process IP, trade secrets, and patentable methods.\n\nDesign for Replication: Translate line design into a modular, repeatable layout that supports Vandrel’s micro-factory deployment model.\n\nImplement Manufacturing Intelligence: Integrate AI-driven computer vision and acoustic sensors to create a 'Digital Birth Certificate' for every spool, providing meter-by-meter traceability for defense and aerospace clients.\n\nBuild the Team: Hire and lead process engineers, technicians, and quality staR. Set a technical culture where senior people run the line alongside the operators.\n\nREQUIRED SKILLS\n10+ years in polymer extrusion, wire and cable manufacturing, or high-performance coatings, with at least 5 years in a senior technical leadership role.\n\nHands-on experience with high-temperature thermoplastics; PEEK, PEKK, PAEK, or comparable semi-crystalline engineering polymers strongly preferred.\n\nDemonstrated track record taking an extrusion or coating process from pilot into production, including yield, cost, and long-term reliability.\n\nReal depth on the copper-to-polymer interface: surface prep, adhesion chemistry, thermal behavior, aging.\n\nAbility to specify and qualify capital equipment from first principles, and to partner with vendors on PEEK-capable tooling.\n\nOperator mindset: comfortable in PPE, at the crosshead, solving a defect at 2am if that is what the line needs.\n\nFamiliarity with IEC 60317 and NEMA MW 1000 magnet wire standards is a plus.\n\nCOMPENSATION AND EQUITY\nCompensation is benchmarked to senior technical leadership at venture-backed hard tech companies. Base salary is competitive and equity is material; both scale with experience and scope of ownership.\nFor candidates ready to anchor Vandrel’s technical side from day one, we are open to structuring this as a co-founder-level package: co-founder equity, commensurate title, and the authority that comes with it.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3540,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Chemical Engineering","Venture Capital","Angel Networks & Startup Accelerators"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-06-29T14:56:59Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":10,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.361,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":113,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:3","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/interplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/interplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T11:41:08Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":16499,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":705967},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=705967"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Finterplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Finterplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Finterplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/interplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Finterplay-head-of-process-engineering-vandrel"}]}